UGA’s Cornelia Walker Bailey Program (CWBP) on Land, Sea and Agriculture has long been attentive to the cultural importance of Saltwater Geechee ways of life on Sapelo Island and beyond. Given this, we are happy to announce the launch of the CWBP’s new Arts Program. The Arts Program will work to highlight artistic expression inspired by the land, sea, and Saltwater Geechee culture on Sapelo Island. Working to educate through artistic programing, the CWBP will work to highlight the many contributions Saltwater Geechee culture brings to the world.

The idea for the Arts Program in part emerged through indigo dyeing workshops that Maurice and Nik have been teaching at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island since 2022 through the Culture and Community partnership between Penn Center and the University of Georgia Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. Growing the indigo was Cornelia Walker Bailey’s idea and we have been proud to make it a reality. As we have been growing indigo on Sapelo and teaching about it on St. Helena, we thought we could teach not just about indigo, but other arts and crafts that have become important to the vision of the Program. Another inspiration for the Arts Program has been the photography of Rinne Allen who has been documenting the efforts to revive other heritage crops on Sapelo through the leadership of Save Our Legacy Ourself (S.O.L.O) since 2018.

The Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land, Sea and Agriculture is proud to partner with Mr. Stanley Walker as we launch our first event of the new CWBP Arts Program. Mr. Walker is a Saltwater Geechee of Sapelo Island and will teach a three day cast net making workshop geared to beginner cast net makers May 28-June 1, 2025. Please stay tuned for more information about that workshop.